Category Archives: technology

Earlier today, Broadcom announced their new network processor that will bring faster speeds to the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard for mobile phones.

This new processor will double the data rate of earlier product while cutting power consumption by 25%. The system will support 2×2 MIMO (Multiple Input/Multiple Output) technology. This technology transfers data faster on a single frequency by using two transmitting antennas and two receiving antennas.

The company is currently making samples of the chip although they haven’t said when production versions would arrive.

Leave a comment below on what you think! And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for even more updates!

Earlier today, Google announced its latest Android phone titled “Project Tango”. This new Android phone experiments with robotics and computer vision to map out the world around you. Project lead, Johnny Lee, stated, “The goal of Project Tango is to give mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion.”

The phone itself measures five inches and includes a few sensors (4 MP camera and a motion tracking camera) that allow the phone to make over a quarter of a million 3D measurements every second. These measurements help the phone update its position, in real-time, and combines all of the data into a single 3D model of the world around you (video below).

This new phone opens up a lot of doors for new features on current smartphones. Chase Cobb stated, “imagine that you scan a small section of your living room and then are able to generate a little game world in it, I don’t know of any controller or gaming device that can do that at the moment.” Besides that, there has also been talk suggesting that these new phones have the ability to help the visually impaired navigate unfamiliar areas with ease. Pretty cool huh?

Well good news to any developers out there. Google is planning on shipping out 200 prototypes and dev kits of Project Tango to “developers with dreams of creating more than a touch-screen app.” There is an application online for anyone who is interested in trying to get their hands on this device, here.

Thoughts on Project Tango? Comment below with any thoughts/opinions. Also, follow me on Twitter to stay up-to-date with current tech news!

The US Patent and Trademark Office published earlier today that Google has put a patent on a “Magnetic Attachment Unit”. This patent describes how the iPad’s current magnet system could be expanded to allow the device to connect to docks, joysticks, cameras, and even other iPads. This way, consumers would not have to spend time thinking about what type of connector they need when they are purchasing their next iPad accessory.

As described in the patent, accessories would be able to connect to any side of the device (including the bottom). Users would also be able to connect and disconnect the accessory by pressing the home button.

The patent also describes a “magnetic ring” that will supposedly give users the ability to move your hand above the screen in order to take advantage of some features.

Other possibilities of what could be developed from this “Magnetic Attachment Unit” is that two iPads would be able to connect to each other and send content displayed from one screen to the other. Also, you could turn your tablet into a computer by attaching a second iPad, and using it as a virtual keyboard for the main iPad.

This will definitely open up a large doorway of opportunities but unfortunately just because they filed the patent, doesn’t mean that we will ever see the technology. However, it does look to be very possible since the current iPad already has magnets built in (to support smart covers) so we may see this technology in the near future.

Tell me what you think of this patent and what ideas/products could possibly develop from it in the comments below and on Twitter!

BioShock Infinite developer, Irrational Games, has announced that they will be closing their company. The company’s Co-founder, Ken Levine, told people that he will be starting a new company at Take-Two. This new company will be focused on “narrative-driven and highly replayable games” that will more than likely all be digital. Due to the company closing, Irrational Games will be laying off most employees beside the select 15 or so that get to stay. Irrational Games has been nice throughout the situation by allowing employees to use the studio in order to make portfolios and even having other studios come visit to speak to the team members leaving to give them a new opportunity. Unfortunately, there will be no more work on the BioShock series. It was handed off to 2K so that Levine and his company could focus on new projects.

Irrational was founded in 1997 by Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. The three were former employees of Looking Glass Studios, the creator of the Thief andSystem Shock series. Irrational’s releases aside from the BioShock series includedSystem Shock 2, Tribes Vengeance, and Freedom Force.

Normally I wouldn’t write on something like this, but I found it to be an interesting thought.

Phillips has recently come out with new “smart light” technology that tells customers in a store where they need to go in order to gather all of the ingredients necessary for the recipe they are looking for. The technology uses light-based communication to create a positioning grid for your phone. This grid will tell your phone what route you need to take through the store to get everything for your recipe. The lights can also point customers to location-based discounts or other products throughout the store that are on sale. This seems like a great idea and hopefully it catches on and Phillips is already testing their new smart lights in a few stores. These lights may start gaining popularity pretty fast so prepare yourselves for the next generation of efficient shopping!

Hello everyone. For those of you who have kept your eyes on this blog over the past year or so, you might have noticed the lack of content being uploaded. This was due mainly to me being extremely busy with college and everything that comes along with it. Although I am still a very busy student, I would really love to get this informative blog started back up again! I will be uploading daily articles on some of the most popular “tech” news out there. This will include video games, computers, the mobile industry, and much more. I will also be starting up the Techtonicc Twitter account so if you have any comments or suggestions on what to write about or even the blog itself, you can contact me there. I am really looking forward to getting this started again and hope that everyone else enjoys it as well!

Earlier today at the Consumer Electronics Show, Intel showed off its new Windows 8 operating system. In addition to some new form factors, Intel showed some interesting new Windows 8 interface ideas. Keep in mind that these are proofs-of-concept rather than working devices, so they may or may not actually appear on the market.

The most interesting new UI demo was the Nikishki notebook, a clamshell with a big transparent trackpad below the keyboard. The trackpad works as a traditional trackpad and then “disables” when you press your palms on it to type. Then, when you close the laptop, some of the screen is visible and you are able to see and use the Windows 8 tiles available through the transparent portion.

Another concept was a Kinect-like gesture control for laptops that lets you make gestures in the air to control the system.

Companies have been saying that by the end of 2012, USB 3.0 will be implemented in your smartphones and tablet PCs which will allow speedier data transfer than the current USB 2.0 standard.

USB 3.0 allows for data transfer rates of around 625 MB/s, which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0, whose maximum data transfer speed is 60 MB/s. The USB 3.0 transfer speed on mobile devices won’t be that fast, but it will be much faster than now.

Devices using USB 3.0 will also take a lot shorter of time to fully charge.

USB Implementers Forum also said it aims to reduce the size of USB 3.0 ports on laptops, as it’s becoming a limiting factor in laptop thinness.

Google Maps 6.0 brought a promise of indoor navigation back in November of last year, but outside of a few dozen airports, transit hubs and retail outlets, we had no idea where it was or wasn’t implemented. Luckily, Google made the smart move of mapping out most of Las Vegas before this year’s annual Consumer Electronics Show. As of right now, not much is mapped out (it is obviously still a work in progress) but it brings the promise of yet another amazing “add-on” of technology to the year of 2012.

Within the last few months, Spotify has really taken off. Many users are enjoying the free membership and using it to its full potential. But like everything else, nothing comes free. Business Insider pointed out that many of you who have been using streaming music service Spotify for free in the US from when it launched last July are now going to have to start paying.

What we’re really looking at here is two parts of a conversion funnel — the traffic growth part, then the paywall part — for what appears to be a legitimate contender to iTunes (and any other music service out there). Presumably, that was the plan.

Full access will cost you $9.99 per month. You can also choose to pay $4.99 a month but you will not receive mobile, or offline access.

Spotify currently has 5.4 million users as well as 12.3 million active monthly users. This blows Pandora out of the water (9.5 million monthly actives).

This is all very unfortunate but we should know by now that nothing in life comes free.